EGN NEWS DESK
The Russian Ministry of Defense didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Relations between Armenia and its historic ally, Russia, have soured since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022, with the South Caucasus nation freezing its membership of the Moscow-led CSTO navy alliance, dispatching humanitarian help to Kyiv and staging joint drills with U.S. forces.
At the identical time, Armenia’s long-time rival Azerbaijan has solid nearer relations with the Kremlin, with President Ilham Aliyev holding pleasant talks with President Vladimir Putin in Baku final month. Moscow has accused the EU of trespassing in its self-declared sphere of affect by signing partnership offers with the Armenian authorities.
Russian border guards, who had been stationed in Armenia because the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, have been requested to withdraw from their posts earlier this 12 months. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan advised POLITICO in September 2023 {that a} Russian peacekeeping mission in Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh area had didn’t do its job. Just days later, Moscow’s forces stood apart when Azerbaijan launched a brand new offensive within the enclave, sparking the mass exodus of its total Armenian inhabitants.
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Pashinyan vowed that Armenia’s pivot towards the West would proceed. “If we see a roughly life like chance of changing into a full member of the European Union,” he stated, “we won’t miss that second.”
